The Toxic Avenger

I hated the first act of THE TOXIC AVENGER like I hate red tide. Its actors delivered ghastly performances of ridiculous characters, the story had no soul, and the general quality was so horrible that it left me wondering how this thing even reached cult status. But THE TOXIC AVENGER grows on you - kinda like a fungus. It's so ridiculous, so over-the-top, and so doggone earnest that you can't help but warm to it.

Here's the deal. THE TOXIC AVENGER follows the standard superhero template. Its first act, in which it sets up its villains' evil and its heroe's haplessness spends so much time being painful that offers nothing but grind. Once Toxie actually shows up, however, the movie kicks into high-camp fun, with the industrial-age hero performing wonders like ripping off a villains arm and beating him with it, wooing a pathetic blind girl, and helping old ladies cross the street. Once the Big Bad gets wind of Toxie and puts his evil plan in place in act three, you can't help but root for the offbeat hero and hope he gives that villain a good arm-beating.

THE TOXIC AVENGER is gory, cheap, and strangely sweet. Though it starts out pretty roughly, hang in there: the movie does get under your skin. Like scabies.